UPDATE...
Since Mindfulness and Gratitude came to me as my focus for 2025, it began to pop up everywhere I turn. We have book boxes in our parks. The idea is you can take a book for free and give books for free. I always look forward to looking in the box to find a new read. The first box I stopped at in the new year had, “Wherever You Go There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life” by Jon Kabat-Zinn. Are you kidding me?
2025 BEGINS…
As a follow-up to my last post, I want to share the results our our winter solstice focus experiment. (Please read the previous post if you have not already). The results were totally random and perhaps unexpected; perhaps not. For my wife the remaining slip of paper, her focus for 2025, was to “cook new foods, trying something different once each month.” She has since extended her 2025 focus to introducing dishes from other countries. First, this is one of the items I wrote down for myself. I was a little disappointed it was not mine, but pleased I will have new food experiences without all the work. I’m sure I will help her out with the preparation.
As for mine, I was disappointed, but not surprised. Let me explain.
READY FOR 2025
It’s been a long time. No apologies, just moving on.
My wife and I are trying something new as we start the New Year. To give credit where credit is due, my wife saw this practice on TikTok. At the start of the winter solstice, December 21, 2024, we wrote down ten items to pursue in 2025. They could be wishes, dreams, ideas, hobbies, new habits, losing old habits, etc. I’m hesitant to use the word resolutions, but you get the idea.
LESSON FROM A HOMELESS MAN
Recently my wife and I took a vacation to Montreal, Canada. It was our second trip to Montreal, and we loved it so much the first time we had to return. If you want to experience the feel of Europe, specifically France, without leaving the continent, Montreal is a great place to go. First, everyone speaks French but can easily transition to English for those like me for whom French is a foreign language. Second, it is a clean, safe, very vibrant city with lots of restaurants and sightseeing.At the hotel where we were staying, we received a basket each morning filled with breakfast goodies. Bread or croissants, cheese, jelly, butter, etc. One day we did not eat our box of goodies, so my wife suggested we take it with us and perhaps give it to a homeless, hungry person.
PRAYER VERSUS MEDITATION
I grew up in a Christian home. This statement means different things to different people. How I understand it today is not the same as how I understood it as a child. Like the Apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.”
We went to church nearly every Sunday. I know my mom prayed and I’m sure my dad did in his way. We did not have table grace unless it was a special occasion. We did pray when my Uncle Jack was there. He was a United Methodist pastor. It was like, “Jack’s here. He needs to pray for us.”